Let's Talk About Sex

I have got to admit this to you - this is a difficult, and slightly awkward, blog for me to write.

I am the type of person who doesn't really discuss sex with anyone - unless they're my close friends. So when it came time to write this blog, I just had no idea where to begin.

And then I realized where I worked, and how I had college students at my disposal all the time in the Greek Life Office. So to write this blog about sex on a college campus, I decided to talk to some college students about the topic - to go straight to the source.

We talked about so much in our conversation, but one topic stood out to me as especially pertinent, especially for women - and especially in the South. Women are expected to be pure, virginal, and wholesome on the outside to appease other women, but have sex behind closed doors to appease men. It is a consistent and constant double standard that is impossible for Southern women to live up to, these students say. The worst offense is to be known as "promiscuous," but the combination of college-aged desires and the hope of pleasing members of the opposite sex lead women to lead a double life that is impossible to keep up.

A student I spoke to said that sex at another SEC school was spoken about freely, but at Ole Miss, sex was never discussed, as it was considered taboo. This student said sex was criticized on our campus and that "everyone does it - but no one talks about it." It is another example of how students at Ole Miss and other schools in the South lead a bit of a double life about sex.

It is a difficult predicament to be in. Other than practicing abstinence (which is, quite honestly, difficult to do if a college-aged woman hopes to keep most college-aged men but is completely acceptable and admirable if a student chooses to do so), it is hard to practice sex on a college campus without dealing with potential social repercussions.

For women especially, the double bind of having sex in college and trying to maintain a reputation is difficult, according to the students I spoke to. It is just one more pressure added to the list of the many pressures college students already face.

I am just happy that I got the chance to talk to college students who really know the score about what is going on with sex on a college campus. It provided me with good insight, which is always needed as a student affairs professional.